Why did none of the pundits call out Wiggins' ball handling?

EddieJonesFan · Post #1 » by **EddieJonesFan** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 7:47 pm

To me, it seemed his biggest and most obvious weakness in Wiggins' game was his ball handling and overall ability to create off the dribble in more than just a straight line. Yet it seems during the draft, and during summer league, all anyone talked about him was question marks about some vague killer instinct, strength, and jump shot. I know these guys aren't going to have time to do in-depth break downs on their game, but it's like they didn't even watch him play. That, and it seems since he's athletic they just assume he's a great finisher, when one of his other big weaknesses was that he didn't finish around the rim very well, and it seemed like it was because of mistiming his jumps. Are these just weaknesses you gloss over? I don't understand.

EMG518 · Post #2 » by **EMG518** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:19 pm

I heard it brought up 100 times.

Post #3 » by **Marcus** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 8:53 pm

they made that a main point on his list of things that still needs work.

EddieJonesFan · Post #4 » by **EddieJonesFan** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:17 pm

Well, on the draft broadcast, and during summer league broadcasts, I didn't really hear it talked about.

Post #5 » by **Marcus** » Wed Jul 23, 2014 9:20 pm

im sure he knows it needs work and if he doesn't he will once the reg season starts.

miltk · Post #6 » by **miltk** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 11:09 am

EddieJonesFan wrote:Well, on the draft broadcast, and during summer league broadcasts, I didn't really hear it talked about.

no one has an original thought. virtually anything you hear about scouting and recruiting is regurgitated stuff. you think when vitale comes out with his rundowns he's actually seen anybody other than those on the top10 teams

i do trust manualram however....

MGrand15 · Post #7 » by **MGrand15** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 6:25 pm

Well, expecting solid research from Reggie Miller and Clyde Frazier is going to lead to a bad time every time.

His ball handling is mentioned a lot but it's probably not the key because he still manages to get to the rim a lot in line drives. He just doesn't know what to do once he's there if he's not open. He badly, badly needs to bulk up. I don't know who is taking care of his weight program but whoever he worked with in between the draft and Kansas needs to get fired ASAP. He has to be the skinniest wing in the draft including Exum who was supposed to be a skinny 18 yr old.

Post #8 » by **DayofMourning** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 1:09 am

Wiggins needs serious work on all aspects of his game. He is an insane athlete, and has gotten by with basically just that, and a few basic moves. It seems to me that he knows very little about the game compared to other players when watching him play. He needs to hook up with a guy like John Stockton (a basketball genius) and learn the basics inside and out. Lebron will definitely help with that. I'm pulling for him to get IT. He is a lump of clay right now, but has the physical tools to be special.

76ciology · Post #9 » by **76ciology** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:02 am

He has good fundamentals with his ball handling. He can get to places but it is not good enough to create at will and get him good looks. But he moves great with out dribbling like with his step backs, hop steps and just plan off ball movement.

Wiggins is very limited with offense and it makes him very predictable, thus college teams were able to shut him down. A casual NBA fan like me can even list all his moves on offense..

- right baseline, drive right and spin move when denied.
- step back
- hop step
- splitting the defenders on pnr, spin move when denied
- pull up when denied

For me, Wiggins is a natural freak athlete but a artificial/mechanical ball player. He just doesn't have the innate instinct, mentality and skillset of a well rounded ball player. His moves and thought process is very limited to the ones that you can watch in his workouts on youtube. He doesn't have that natural feel for the game that allows him to move and think out of the box.

Another thing to consider here is the opposing defense. In this era of the NBA, most teams have a defensive stopper at the wing position that is very athletic with same measurements with Wiggins (6'8 ht and 7'0 ws) that can negate his physical and athletic edge. You have to ask yourself.. Can Wiggins score against guys like Kawhi, Iggy, draymond green, MKG, Aminu, Luc Mbah, Deng, paul George, gerald wallace or batum?

I will go out on a limb here.. But I think there's just a systematic flaw in Wiggins' offense. His posture and short arms relative to his standing reach (7'0 vs 9'0) gives him a hard time creating space from side to side. That's why when you look at his dribbling workouts, he looks like he just stays in one position and not smoothly moving one side to another. Another thing is that I don't think he's a sharp thinker, on and off the court (I've talked about this prior to draft). Unlike a Kobe or a Jabari, he is not creative and doesn't think out of the box, he's just limited to the moves he practiced with his trainers. And when these options (practiced moves) are being denied, he will just be in his passive mode just like in some of his "lack of killer mentality" games in Kansas.

JUST MY OPINION.